Long Lost Image of Nicolas Cage as Superman?

Published 5 years ago
by
Rob Frappier
, Updated February 24th, 2012 at 7:51 am,

Back in the halcyon days of 1997, Tim Burton had a dream: To bring Superman to the big screen. The film, entitled Superman Lives, was supposed to star Nicolas Cage as the legendary Man of Steel. Obviously, the movie never panned out, though the rudiments of the project would eventually become 2006′s Superman Returns. For a detailed explanation of why the film never made it past pre-production (aside from the producer’s ludicrous “toy first, plot second” approach to filmmaking) check out the Wikipedia entry on the movie.

In the 10+ years since Superman Lives fizzled out of existence, fanboys across the world have always wondered, “What would Nick Cage have been like as Superman?” Now, we may have a clue. Recently, the obscure Japanese fansite, TimBurton.jp, posted a video featuring some alleged concept art for Superman Lives. Toward the end of the 55 second clip, you get to see a still image of Nicolas Cage in full Superman gear for what appears to be a costume test. We’ve reposted the image for you below. Enjoy.

When I first saw the picture, I immediately thought it was fake. Well, that’s not entirely true. The first thing I thought was, “Oh my God!” and then I laughed for a little while and then I decided it was fake. Honestly, it looks like someone superimposed a picture of Nicolas Cage on a 16-hour bender over top of a Superman action figure. There’s something too plastic-y about the image for me to believe it’s real. The fact that it comes from an obscure foreign website doesn’t boost its credibility much either.

What do you think? Is the photo a fake? If not, how crazy does Nicolas Cage look?

32 Comments

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Anthony Ocasio 5 years ago

I don’t know why, but I keep staring at that photo. There’s something about it that not only draws me in, but creeps me out. I wouldn’t be surprised if an entire Japanese horror franchise was built around that picture.

If so, at least we’ll know who could play creepy Supercage. That’s right, Jeff Goldblum.

What it could be, and most likely is, is a costume test photo they used for production meetings. My guess is they had just some guy pose in a mock up cheap plastic costume which they made, then they (the filmmakers) actually superimposed a shot of Nic Cage on the body just to give everyone an idea of what he would look like in costume. So yes, it’s most likely fake, but only in the sense that the production itself faked it for their own purposes. Either way it looks like crap.

The photo may be fake, but I can assure you the project was real. In 1997 (or 98?) I interviewed for a job with Marvel in NYC working on graphics for it, and they had a life-sized grey clay bust of Cage as superman sitting on the desk in front of me(for designers to draw from). For years I thought I was crazy remembering it, until I saw a lost trailer of Cage in full gear. Personally, I just don’t see cage in the role, but it would have been a sweet job for me!

the flesh colour of his colar/chest area is completely different to his face, plus there is a join below his neck where the action figures head is screwed on lol, there is a curtain behind him and what looks like a plant, which suggests this is an action figure sitting on someones bedroom window.

hey where is all the lost footage of all the screen tests there is money in this my god imagin george clooneys tv shows yeah lets get it all out there hollywood and their phoney baloney images the public knows what is going on so much propaganda and bs it makes people tired of same old same old…..

I have a fan magazine from back then that says Superman’s costume was going to be black and silver and that Lex Luthor was also going to be from Krypton. Superman was not going to fly but was going to be able to leap very far like the original superman concept. I wish it would have been made.